Amnesty International: the pen packby
SOFII
Amnesty needed a powerful and effective means of recruiting new donors to their great cause. This was it. This was, as far as we know, the first ever occasion when a free pen was included in an acquisition mailing, in the UK at least. This mailing was both brilliantly successful and started a trend that led to a flood of imitators.
SOFII has just restructured its massive direct mail, door drops and household deliveries showcase – the world’s biggest and best direct mail swipe file. Check it out here.

Amnesty International: throw-away insert campaignby
SOFII
Amnesty International’s fundraising is rarely other than enterprising, inspirational and effective and this insert doesn’t fail to live up to expectations. Here, Amnesty International used people’s contrary instincts about the medium to their benefit by creating an insert with a warning not to open it.

Arrels Fundació: cardboard hearts for the homelessby
SOFII
Arrels Fundació have come up with an excellent way to wear your heart on your sleeve to raise money and awareness of the growing number of homeless people in Barcelona. It is also easily copied.

Book Aid International: the Reverse Book Clubby
SOFII
RBC is just like a normal book club, only its members never receive the books – instead each month four books are sent on each member’s behalf to people in the developing world. Donors love this scheme for its tangible accountability. For a small weekly outlay that most will never miss, they can see what their help is achieving and can readily imagine the impact of their gift, month after month, on small children and struggling students, eager to learn and to work their way out of poverty.

Médecins sans Frontières: ‘field partners’by
SOFII
Without doubt all fundraisers want regular givers and lots of them. This is a great example of how to convert your existing supporters from random one-off gifts to planned regular giving, and how charities can change the giving behaviour of existing supporters.

Mind Pause Boxby
Caroline Appleton
A beautifully designed self-care subscription box that was tailor-made for its target audience and encourages regular giving for Mind -the Pause Box is a trailblazer.

The day World Vision welcomed me to their worldby
Laura Croudace
Here is Laura Croudace’s personal account of a new form of face-to-face experiential donor recruitment. It all started when she spotted a mud hut when out shopping with her family one day.